When a king or queen is said to have dominion over a particular territory, it means that they have control over their subjects. An article published in the Los Angeles Daily Newstells about a man and a woman who used their medical supply company to rule over a dominion of wheelchair fraud. Their subjects or victims in this particular case included the elderly and the Medicare system.

The story states that the man and woman tried to bilk Medicare of more than $1.8 million through the submission of fake claims for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs. (Interestingly enough, the two defendants were actually named ”King” and ”Queen.” How ironic is that?)

Over a period of three years, the fraudsters randomly recruited their victims and offered the beneficiaries a free power wheelchair. They were subsequently directed to visit a medical clinic where they received a prescription for a power wheelchair. (As you might guess, falsified claims were submitted on behalf of elderly Medicare beneficiaries who were mobile and did not need power wheelchairs.) Medicare paid nearly $900,000 for the false claims and the power wheelchairs that were never delivered.

Following a nine-day trial, the 49-year-old man and 53-year-old woman were both convicted on five counts each of health care fraud. The ”King” and ”Queen” of wheelchair fraud both face up to 50 years in prison.

It looks like the reign of wheelchair fraud has ended. It’s a sure bet that these two ”rulers” won’t be sent to the dungeon for punishment, but prison is another thing. This story is likely to not have a fairy tale ending.

Source: Today’s ”Fraud of the Day” is based on an article titled, ”Woodland Hills, Van Nuys Residents Convicted of Medicare Fraud in Power-wheelchair Scheme,” written by Gregory J. Wilcox and published by the Los Angeles Daily News on May 28, 2015.

Two San Fernando Valley residents who bilked Medicare over power wheelchair sales have been convicted of health care fraud, officials said Thursday.

Queen Anieze-Smith, 53, of Woodland Hills, and Abdul King Garba, 49, of Van Nuys, were accused of operating a Van Nuys-based Medicare scheme that submitted nearly $2 million in fake claims. They were convicted Tuesday afternoon on five counts each of health care fraud after a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Larry Benson is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances for Revenue Discovery and Recovery at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. In this role, Benson is responsible for developing partnerships for the tax and revenue and child support enforcement verticals. He focuses on embedded companies that have a need for third-party analytics to enhance their current offerings.

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